The everymigrant's guide to illegal border crossings

This is a pocket guide for illegals attempting to pass through frontiers they wouldn't otherwise be allowed to cross. In times of border fences, travel bans, mandatory detention, deportation plans and an increasingly blurry line between refugee and criminal, the project takes a candid look at the phenomenon, from the migrant's point of view. The booklet collects in fact a selection of items used by illegals all over the world, holding together real tools - currently used by migrants - and fantastic ones - which still might soon be spotted around some border checkpoint -. All of them come with real, detailed instructions for assembly and use. The project takes inspiration from a pre-existing tradition of "warfare guides" for civilians, from WW II Airplane Spotter Cards, used to distinguish Allied aircrafts from enemy ones, to the How to protest Intelligently pamphlet circulating in Egypt during the Arab Spring. With the ironic yet very practical tone of a Do-it-yourself manual, the project aims to show what being an illegal migrant really implies, letting everyday objects tell the story. Without judging the reasons that brought its readers to the status of illegals - being it economic hardship, political instability or environmental disasters -, the manual collects testimonies of the most spontaneous forms of design. Nomadic, cheap, desperate yet super-functional ones.